New Giti flagship UHP tyre, GT Radial SportActive, coming soon
Giti has previewed its forthcoming ultra-high performance flagship tyre for its leading GT Radial brand. Eventually replacing the GT Radial UHP1 and HPY, the GT Radial SportActive currently has eight 17 and 18 inch sizes in production at its Hefei, China plant, the manufacturer’s senior product marketing manager Fabio Pecci-Boriani told Tyrepress during the launch of the brand’s Savero SUV tyre in Barcelona. The manufacturer will also have a further “22 sizes in production by the end of the year”, he added, with 40-50 sizes in total available by June 2016. These sizes will include some suitable for high performance SUVs. The SportActive is a significant milestone for the company; it is the first to feature Giti’s “Optimal Casing Construction” (OCC) technology, with the project led by the company’s European research and development centre in Hanover, Germany.
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European motoring clubs publish winter tyre test results
Every autumn the largest motoring associations in Germany (ADAC), Austria, (ÖAMTC) and Switzerland (TCS) publish the largely-identical results of their combined winter tyre test. The information presented here is drawn from the ÖAMTC’s reportage and covers the comparative test of 16 size 165/70 R 14T tyres on a VW Polo and 19 size 205/55 R16H tyres on a VW Golf. The results of the two tests show frugality in bestowing the ‘outstanding’ rating – no tyre in either test received this – yet four tyres effectively failed the test with a rating of ‘not recommended’.
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Road deaths up 4% in 2014
The latest Department for Transport data, compiled by the Office of National Statistics shows that road deaths increased by 4 per cent compared with 2013, rising to 1,775. The “Reported road casualties Great Britain: annual report 2014”, which was published on 24 September also points out that the number of people seriously injured increased by 5 per cent to 22,807 in 2014.
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Yoko Ono snapped for 2016 Pirelli Calendar
Pirelli has named the women appearing in its 2016 Calendar, which was shot by Annie Leibovitz in New York. The 43rd edition of the world’s best-known calendar features 13 protagonists, including Serena Williams – who outed herself as a Cal participant on 18 September – and Yoko Ono.
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Emissions revelation puts VW group credibility in question
News that VW is recalling almost half a million diesel cars in the US is bad enough, but the revelation that this is because the company put so-called defeat devices into the cars in order to mislead emissions testing systems is likely to damage the OEM’s reputation. And there is a growing financial cost too.
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Lanxess and Saudi Aramco create synthetic rubber joint venture
Specialty chemicals company Lanxess and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, today signed an agreement to establish a synthetic rubber joint venture. Lanxess and Aramco Overseas Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, will each hold a 50 per cent stake in the €2.75 billion venture, with Saudi Aramco paying approximately €1.2 billion in cash for its 50 per cent share after deducting debt and other financial liabilities.
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European tyre e-tail worth 5.47 billion euros by 2021
Automotive tyre manufacturers in Europe are focussing on electronic retailing (e-tail) to serve increasing customer preference for convenience and low prices, according to a new report published by Frost & Sullivan. Currently, tyre e-tail accounts for nearly eight per cent of the total tyre aftermarket in Europe. The report concludes that this figure will continue to rise as tyre manufacturers recognise the potential to access global markets through e-tail and invest in online sales and marketing tools to meet their growth objectives. Here Tyres & Accessories engages with the Frost & Sullivan data in order to better understand and begin to apply it to the current market context.
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Richard Lyons resigns from Giti
Dr Enki Tan, executive chairman of Giti Tire, has announced that Stefan Fischer and Corrado Moglia have been appointed as managing directors – Europe. The news follows the resignation of Richard Lyons, who has left the company with immediate effect. Prior to his resignation, Lyons was managing director Giti Tire (Europe) and director - International Sales & Marketing, Passenger Car.
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Pirelli leading global social media tyre brand 2015
2015 marks the fifth year Tyres & Accessories has tracked, ranked and analysed the social media performance of the leading tyre brands. Each year technology has evolved and the depth and breadth of our coverage has grown with it. This year the headline news is that there is a new global winner. Meanwhile, less has […]
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Millbrook buys Test World
Millbrook, the well-known vehicle test, validation and engineering service provider, signed a contract to acquire specialist winter test centre Test World on 14 September. No price-tag has been publically released.
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First Landsail tyres produced at new Thai factory
Growing global demand for Landsail car, high performance and van tyres has prompted Sentury to open a new factory in Thailand and the first Landsail tyres rolled off the production line earlier this week. The new plant will mean a significant increase in the capacity and output of Landsail tyres. A completely automated production line has been introduced, with Sentury investing in the VMI Exxium building machines, which are capable of producing a tyre every 38 seconds.
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Nokian wins Auto Express all-season tyre test; dry performance remains ‘concern’ for segment
Auto Express has named the Nokian Weatherproof as its number one all-season car tyre in its survey of the segment. Testing a modest six tyres at Nokians test centre in Ivalo, Finland for winter conditions and at Contidrom, Germany for summer conditions, the test was a first for the magazine, highlighting the growth trend Tyrepress.com has noted in the UK market for such products. The Nokian Weatherproof was declared the test winner, and an Auto Express ‘Best Buy’, perhaps unsurprisingly sweeping away the competition in the winter tests (the winter rubber specialist uses Test World to test its tyres). The test’s most notable omission is Michelin’s self-professed “game-changer”, the 2015 launched CrossClimate. The French manufacturer has responded hawkishly to references to the new product as an all-season tyre despite its year-round applicability, though tyre test coordinator Kim Adams noted that its March 2015 launch was “just too late” for the tyre to be included.
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Continental scores best online sentiment in 2015 online branding survey
Our 2015 online branding study, which measures the online branding of leading tyre firms in partnership with NetNames, has a new winner. After years of Michelin dominance across both the “prominence” and “sentiment” metrics NetNames measures, Continental has surged to victory in the sentiment part of the 2015 survey, overtaking Michelin for the lead and just a whisker behind in terms of prominence.
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Pirelli adds Jerez to World Superbike event sponsorships
The ENI FIM Superbike World Championship will recommence after its summer break at Spain’s Jerez Circuit on 18-20 September, and Pirelli will add the event to its existing World Superbike sponsorships in Malaysia and Qatar. In addition, the WSB’s tyre supplier will add new tyre products to its range in Jerez. The season’s eleventh round will be named “Pirelli Spanish Round”.
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